


road to your heart

by Dark_Writer



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Romance, random ideas
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-15
Updated: 2020-05-15
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:13:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,958
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24198025
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dark_Writer/pseuds/Dark_Writer
Summary: Kara likes Nia. It's as simple as that.
Relationships: Kara Danvers/Nia Nal
Comments: 2
Kudos: 49





	road to your heart

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Argyle_S](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Argyle_S/gifts).



> This is actually a birthday gift for Argyle_S. She's been really good to me as a friend and I thought why not?

So, because it’s Kara and Kara is amazing, she ends up beating Lex and Leviathan, albeit with a coma and a concussion before the actual end. Still, a victory is a victory, even if it comes with the loss of a friendship and she makes the best of it.

That doesn’t stop her from jumping when Andrea offers her a national assignment profiling alien communities in an effort to bring awareness. Kara takes a moment to be proud of herself for hooking her up with Cat as a mentor, because profitability doesn’t mean she has to lose her empathy and deep down, she’s a good person. Just…deep, deep down. Then she accepts with all the dignity of Cat Grant’s protégé, waiting to get home to spiral like she’d been taught.

She needs a partner for this, someone who could put up with her for a long period of time and is just as amazing. Her first thought goes to Alex, because she’ll always think of her sister first, but Alex and Kelly have a conference in Geneva to attend (an actual conference this time, not just an excuse to go on an alien hunting mission), and she can’t ask her to give that up for her.

Her second thought is Nia, but it seems like too much to ask, too much to make her sacrifice when her career is just off to a great start, and Kara wants to encourage that, not stifle it because she can’t handle more than a few hours alone at a time. She wants to watch her rise to the top and above, wonders if this is how Cat felt while watching her grow and learn and achieve.

Part of her is scared as she dials that number, wants to do nothing more than throw her phone across the room and forget she’d ever had the thought, but when the phone starts to ring she knows that it’s too late to turn back. What’s done is done.

Talking to Cat is….

Scary.

Arousing.

Exciting.

Comforting.

Reassuring.

Sad.

There are so many emotions there that Kara doesn’t want to think about, so many things that she isn’t ready to face, but still. She needs to talk to Cat, to hear her voice and the familiar care hidden under her caustic words. The latter she hasn’t heard in a long time, but the care…The care is familiar, is safe, almost as warm as Alex’s and just as essential to her.

By the end of it, Kara feels that old familiar confidence, the knowledge that she can do anything she wants to if she simply tries. Both Cat and Alex had always done that for her, given her that gift, and even now, nothing has changed, nothing has fallen away from that. It is what it is.

When she approaches Nia the next day, she’s calm. She’s ready to do this and she knows that Nia will be the perfect person to do it with. That Nia was one of the people who inspired her original piece, one of the people who reminded her that her words could make a difference, is a part of it, but mostly Kara knows that she cares and that she’ll treat this with the care that she herself will.

Nia is ecstatic. Working with Kara is something she’s used to, but as a superhero and a junior. Kara is offering her a by-line, a chance to prove herself the equal she already feels like. It’s amazing and everything she wants and she doesn’t hesitate to say yes, doesn’t hesitate to accept everything Kara is offering her with this. It’s Kara and any time spent with her is good time.

(She doesn’t pursue it much further than that, won’t follow where that line leads, too dangerous as it is for her.)

They don’t start out immediately, though. Kara and Nia still need to plan their route and get in contact with the communities they’ll be interviewing. There’s also the logistics of both Supergirl and Dreamer being away from National City for any amount of time. They agree to stagger it. Kara will disappear first, a gradual lessening of appearances and hints at a mission offworld. Nia will follow, her disappearance even more gradual.

Creating an itinerary is harder. Most of the communities are wary, scared of exposure, and Kara can’t blame them, can’t fault them when everything that’s happened so far has done nothing but show aliens that they’re not welcomed on earth, that they don’t have a home here.

Nia is the one to point out the obvious. National City is a metropolitan city, bigger than most of the areas these communities are in and more liberal. She’s the one to point out that they need to try a new tactic, to go face to face and show them that there’s nothing to fear.

That’s the first time Kara wants to kiss her. It’s not the first time she’s ever thought of kissing a girl – she’s more than experienced in that area, no matter how long it’s been – but it’s the first time she’s ever seen Nia in that way.

It scares her, pushes her away from her despite their close proximity. She doesn’t close off, but she’s more careful, warier of their interactions than she would have been before. She doesn’t want Nia to hate her, to think that she’d been perving on her for so long when the truth is the opposite.

Nia still notices, but she doesn’t say anything. She enjoys her time with Kara too much to want to ruin it with a neediness that isn’t her, isn’t who she is usually. Instead, gives her space, gives her the time she needs to figure out whatever it is that bothers her. It kills Nia to do this, to have to wait and watch when all she wants is to hug Kara and help her the way Kara had done for her, but she does.

Kara’s the best person she knows, after all, and Nia’s learnt as much as she can from her. She wants so much o return the favour, to be a shoulder she can lean on when she needs it. She wants to be the one to hold her and make things okay, but she can’t and everyday near her is a torment.

When Kara gets home, Alex takes one look at her and calls Kelly to cancel their night together. The look on Kara’s face demands ice cream and cuddles and maybe light mockery over her latest crush. It’s hard to tell at the moment and she needs to investigate further.

It doesn’t take long for Alex to get it out of her, just a nudge here and there and soon Kara is talking about how pretty Nia is, how kissable. It’s honestly kind of adorable and Alex approves, if only because she’s sure that Nia adores Kara just as much.

It’s not her secret to tell, though, so she says nothing, just allowing Kara to talk and talk and talk. It’s all she can do in that moment, supporting her, holding her, listening to her. As much as she would have loved spending time with Kelly at that concert, there’s no place she’d rather be in that moment.

The first half of the trip is actually pretty uneventful. Things are a little strained as Kara tries to figure out what’s the appropriate distance to keep, but they’re not hopeless and soon, she’s laughing and talking to Nia as if nothing has changed. It kills her inside, but she can do this. She can keep their friendship from falling apart if she can keep her hands to herself.

It’s difficult. Nia is so, so good at what she does, so empathetic that it hurts. She can only watch with pride whenever she lets her handle an interview as she eases the other person into the conversation, reassures them that they’re safe and actually listens. She puts people at ease in a way that a lot of veteran reporters haven’t and Kara can’t help the way her chest fills with pride and love for this woman who’s blossoming in front of her.

(In the back of her mind, there’s a part of her that wonders what if, what could have been with Cat when they were in this position.)

Slowly, they make their way across the continental US. Kara learns so much from each community, and Nia learns so much from Kara. The first few places are a rough start, but soon they get into a good groove, interviewing by day, working by night. Sometimes there’s food. A lot of times there’s coffee involved as Nia leans against Kara, silently writing her version of their articles they send.

What starts as a collaboration becomes an alternating series of articles from the views of two different but similar people.

By the time they reach the midpoint of their journey, there’s talk of a Pulitzer. Kara wants it, but more than anything, she wants Nia to have it. She wants to watch her succeed in a way she hasn’t wanted since Alex and it surprises her, not because it’s there – she wants to watch all her friends and loved ones achieve everything they want in life – but because of how strong it is.

At this point, realisation settles in, an uncomfortable beating in her chest as she forces herself to face reality. She wants her, wants her so much it hurts being near her and not having her and she can’t deny the way that Nia looks at her, makes her feel wanted in return.

It warms her, makes her feel like she can do anything, and maybe she can.

It happens one warm night in a park in Colorado. They’ve decided to take a break so that they can get their shit together and work out how the rest of the series is going to go, and Kara takes them somewhere quiet. The stars are brilliant and there’s a fire in front of them. Nia isn’t quite touching her as she talks, but she’s close enough that Kara could if she wanted to.

Her hands are flying everywhere and there’s a joy in her expression she hasn’t seen in a while as she talks about her conversation with the contingent from one of the Andromeda galaxy’s systems. They’d been living in a commune for most of their lives, forming a community not too dissimilar from Parthas. Kara had let Nia take the lead on that one, given her the time and the space to create an article that was inspired, magical, all the things she’d tell Cat whenever she’d crafted something truly beautiful.

Looking at her under those stars, Kara thinks she should thank the older woman for sending Nia to her if she gets to see her like this. As she moves closer, the last thing she does before she touches Nia inquiringly is to make a mental note to send her flowers.

Somehow, she isn’t surprised when the younger woman responds. She’s eager, willing and pliable beneath Kara’s fingers. She can barely get the question out before Nia is nodding, pulling her closer. Her strength amazes Kara, but soon she’s too distracted.

They don’t actually go further than kisses and furtive touches under the cover of night until they’re back home, back where Kara can show Nia how much this means to her. They’re just content to be together, slowly exploring.

And if they only tell Alex and Kelly after a long, wonderful night on the East Coast filled with popcorn and movies and a quiet night in?

Well, who’s to say that it didn’t turn out exactly how they wanted?


End file.
